[spacemanspliff]

I had monitor 9 Paradigms and I like my TAD 805s better. Paradigm is a great speaker maker though.

 

[Spare Tire]

Got my atoms for a couple of weeks now and wanted to come back and share my thoughts on these. I have one main gripe about these speakers: the bass. They just don't extend low enough. Maybe i've been spoiled by my staxes that just stretched and stretched and stretched into the lows and made them audible, now i know what people mean when they say headphones are 10x better for the same budget. I didn't expect the atoms to give of a lot of bass, i bought speakers to get soundstage. The problem was not in that the bass cut off early, it's that right before it cuts off the atoms have this big resonating mid-bass hump that covers up all their qualities in the smooth mids and highs. One of my favorite piece has become unlistenable on the atoms: Concerto No. 3 in G major BWV 1048: I Allegro in Bach's Brandenburg Concertos by the Academy of Ancient Music. The cello or whatever it was that used to make the deep creeping grumble on my staxes that gives you goosebumps were now a big resonating OOOOOOO like a microphone getting feedback from speakers. And then just a bit lower, the bass cuts off very abruptly. I don't consider myself a basshead in anyway, quite the contrary, but i really wish this bass to be more controlled, more linear and go deeper. A subwoofer will not fix this (god i hate those).

I hear somebody mention Totem Acoustic a bit back. I'll give a shot to thier Dreamcatcher sometime in the future when i'll have the money. They're double the price of the atoms. Their sandwich woofer that promisses linear and deep bass with big soundstage has got me sold, but i'll ask for audition next time.

Damnit, i shouldn't have set foot into the speaker world because things just got a lot more costly for a lot less gains. Again, hourray for the Staxes, they really give me my money's worth.

 

[Wodgy]

That's really the problem with any small speakers... the bass. I think you made the right decision with the Atoms though; there is some phenomenal engineering in the Paradigm Atom v.5 with the waveguide. You can tell by the measurements that they've added an upper bass hump to try to compensate for the lack of low bass, but ultimately there's only so much they can do in a small speaker.

 

[Spare Tire]

Well that's exactly the problem for me actually, the hump. It messes with my music. I wish they just left it flat, too bad if there isn't enough, it'd still be better than hearing this hump jump out a you and then back as instruments play in this range up and down. The hump is just too narrow and steep.
But aside from that, i do like my atoms. It's just that some music just wont play nice on these. If the music doesn't go mess in the hump, the atoms can be very pogant.

 

[Wodgy]

You may wish to try stuffing the ports with rolled up socks. This usually makes the bass tighter but leaner (though depending on the tuning, it's possible but unlikely it will increase the hump). It also lowers the group delay which makes the bass subjectively faster for many listeners. I think you'll prefer them with the ports stuffed, especially coming from Stax. Certainly if you get a subwoofer, you'll probably want to stuff the ports otherwise the integration will be off.

 

[jrosenth]

If you're moving on to something else and want to stay in the same ball park budget-wise, you might want to think about the x series from av123.

For other sounds, tekton audio has fostex full rangers (with bsc shaping) for your price range or even some wall mounted maggies for under $300 and add a sub later (just my 2 cents).

 

[Spare Tire]

I just tried stuffing the back ports. Looks like it's fixing a large part of the hump! Will try out more of the repertoire to see if it fits with everything, but seems promising!

EDIT: Hum... well it hard to tell, and it seems to be fatiguing in another way, now the highs stand out a bit too much, a bit too agressive. I just tried to pull them farther away from the wall and that helped with the bass too, but it's not practical, i can't leave them like that cause they'll be in the way. Maybe i'll pull them out when i need a nice listen. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Spare Tire]

Follow-up:
After two months of roading, the speakers have perceptibly leveled the mid bass hump. It's a lot more tolerable now.